What is a qualified patent attorney?

The field of patents is quite complex requiring a combination of technical considerations and legal aspects.

Patent attorneys are people with a science degree who have gotten an additional qualification as a patent attorney. Only qualified European patent attorneys are authorized to represent clients before the European Patent Office,

At De Clercq & Partners there are European patent attorneys, as well as patent attorneys which are qualified to act before the Belgian or Dutch Patent Offices. Most qualified patent attorneys have experience in different aspects of patent protection including, patentability analysis, the drafting of applications, prosecution of patents before the patent offices, opposition proceedings and appeal proceedings. In addition patent attorneys have expertise in performing Freedom-to-operate analyses, providing expert opinions on validity and infringement and helping to develop a patent portfolio.